Join the Center for the Future of Forests and Society for the first lecture in the CFFS Speaks series!

Finding Wonder in Nature Through Art + Science

Lecture + reception with Jeremy Bruskotter.

Thursday, April 17 | 4-5 p.m. | PFSC 315

Reception to follow in the PFSC Treehouse.

Abstract: Science and art are often viewed as being near opposite activities: one focused on systematic investigation, the other on creative expression. But both activities help us meet basic human needs, which manifest motivationally as the desire to explore our environment, reduce uncertainty, and express how it makes us feel. Likewise, both play pivotal roles in nature conservation; collectively helping us to understand our environment, our effects on it, and express our thoughts and feelings about those understandings. For a century, scientists and artists have worked together to both explain what humans have done to their environment and why we should care. As an artist and scientist, I’ll share some reflections on the value of both endeavors as well as my concerns about what recent developments portend for the future of conservation. 

Dr. Jeremy Bruskotter is an environmental psychologist in the School of Environment and Natural Resources at The Ohio State University. Formally trained as an artist and later a social scientist, Jeremy has acquired non-formal training and expertise in ecology and environmental philosophy and ethics.